Chemical Waves - Trapped In The Past
Marco Cattani is always in the adoration of the old scribe: the Roman artist continues to churn out music that smells of his hometown (the same, birthplace of the writer), always deliberately scouring territories far from the Italian capital. His latest Hamletic raid has just been released, its labyrinth even more covered in sand, like music that lives in the catacombs and with modern chromosomes, ignited by immensely decadent but never heavy flashes. His Darkwave is never by the book, but rather capable of walking the steep streets of that Coldwave that Rome has yet to scour well. The synths often command operations, with guitar drops being constantly held by the hand by a truly remarkable wisdom: never abundance for the sake of display, for a well-balanced whole with an effective and well-calibrated balance.
Let's avoid comparisons, let's go further and let every prejudice or desire to be masters be absent: let's sit down, get up and dance, with notepad always in hand, there is much to learn with this album.
What about Post-Punk, here whipped, made obedient and a servant of the cause? A resounding fact that is especially evident in the tracks where Marco sees collaborators, guests, new blood to enliven his talent, diversifying and adding to achieve truly intense planes of beauty.
One feels the need to make the grey colour melodic, to shake up the black and to sniff the dust in the air of the intelligence of this composer endowed with great sensitivity and a musical culture that is highlighted by the solutions he adopts throughout the nine tracks: whether instrumental or sung, there is always the certainty of being inside precise studies, electric cables and transistors tuned on the planet of enchantment, with a dreamy and slightly melancholic gaze.
Excellent, lightning-fast will be your adoration and you will forever thank this artist for his generosity...
Alex Dematteis
Musicshockworld
Salford
15th March 2023
https://chemicalwaves.bandcamp.com/album/trapped-in-the-past